Frozen Moments
by tinymarauder
Summary: A pregnant Lily is sitting at home waiting for James to come back from a mission for the original Order of the Phoenix.  It's a snapshot of the Marauders lives after Hogwarts.  Lily/James with a lot of Lily/Remus friendship.  Enjoy.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did Harry's none of these people would have ever died and there would have been no Harry Potter. Dang I can't decide what would be worse….

Summary: A pregnant Lily is sitting at home waiting for James to come back from a mission for the original Order of the Phoenix. It's a snapshot of the Marauders lives after Hogwarts. Lily/James with a lot of Lily/Remus friendship. Enjoy.

Frozen Moments

It was a little after midnight and most of the inhabitants of Godric's Hollow were fast asleep. But in one house there was still a light on in the kitchen. A woman sat at the table with her mug of tea clenched tightly in her hands. She was oblivious to the world around her, lines of worry creased her young face. Her tea had turned cold long ago but the only movement she made was to raise her head to check the clock on the wall and to run a hand through her already tousled hair. All of a sudden the fireplace in the back room roared to life.

Lily gasped and spun towards the fireplace as it roared to life in a flurry of green flames.

Out of the grate stepped Remus Lupin. "Lily are you here?" He called and then caught sight of her. He took one look at her tear streaked cheeks and rushed across the floor. "Oh Lily." He knelt beside the chair she had sank back into which she had half risen from in hope. He took her hands in his own and raised her chain to look at him. "You know James, he'll be fine. He always is. Besides, Sirius is there to look after him."  
>"I-I know." She stuttered, the tears slipping down her face again. "It's just that I'm not there with him, and I have nothing to do. It's just so hard to –" she stopped, choked by her tears. Remus make a hushing noise and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back reassuringly. "What if something happens? What if someone makes a mistake? He's a hero, we both know that. I-I can't raise a baby on my own!" She was shaking as she thought about it.<p>

"Sshhh." Remus pulled back and looked her in the eye. "James loves you more than anything, and you know how happy he is about Harry." Remus told her, his face breaking into a smile when he mentioned the baby. He placed a hand on her very protruding stomach. "He would do anything, _anything_, to get back to you. And Sirius would give his life to ensure it. He loves you Lily. He spent years chasing you around, and now that he's won you over, you're stuck with him."

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I am stuck with him aren't I?"  
>Remus nodded "Now let's have some fun. Remember that Muggle card game you've been meaning to teach me? Why don't we play it?" He straightened up and strode over to the china cabinet against the wall and took out a deck of cards Lily always kept in one of the draws.<p>

Lily nodded and Remus helped her up, steering her into the living room and into the overstuffed arm-chair he knew was her favorite. Lily took a minute to settle in and then took the cards Remus offered her.

"Ok, the game is called poker..." She began and soon they were playing the game, Lily explaining the rules to him as they went along.

The game didn't go very well. Lily was too distracted to keep her mind on the cards and Remus was determined to lose to cheer her up.

Remus smiled faintly as he put back his three aces and took three new cards. Lily was extremely competitive, that was actually how James had finally gotten her to go out with him in the first place. They would have never gotten married if it wasn't for Lily insisting that she could get better marks on my exams. She had never know that James pulled the 'Acceptables' the year before without studying. When he had gotten one more Outstanding then she had she was forced to go on a date with him.

Remus' smile widened as he remembered James that day. He had changed his shirt three times and had to sit on his hands to keep from running his figures through his hair. But James was no longer the gangly teenage boy who catered to his peers with pranks on unsuspecting Slytherins. He was a man now. He had filled out and gotten a job through which he really made a difference. Instead of worrying about staying the coolest kid in Hogwarts he was fiercely and loved his wife and his unborn son far more then himself. Remus sighed. He was proud of the man his friend had become, and more than a little jealous. With his 'condition' though he knew this life was more then he could ever hope for.

"Remus what have you got?" Lily asked breaking him out of his thoughts.

He looked down and winced as he noticed he had a full house clutched in his hands. He was saved from showing Lily when the fireplace burst into flames for the second time that night. Lily and her belly sent cards flying as she sprang up.

Out stepped Sirius Black. He brushed himself off as Lily waddled up to him. "Where's James?" she demanded when the flames died away instead of spitting out another body.

"Don't worry, he's fine. He just had to do some paperwork. He sent me ahead to tell you he was ok." Sirius told her with a smile.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief and her face relaxed. "Thank you Sirius." She said gratefully and gave him a hug.

He hugged her back warmly. "Hey Remus." Sirius said in surprise, noticing the man over Lily's shoulder. "Look at this! You guys had a party without me."

Remus shook his head in amusement, a smile lighting up his face now that his worry had disappeared.

"Since this is a party…" Sirius said slowly pulling back. "You must have food right?" He asked Lily who grinned up at him.

"There's a crazy pregnant lady living in this house now. Of course I have food. Enough for three weeks and yet it will only last one." She laughed.

"Well that's because out little Harry is a man like his godfather." Sirius told her patting her belly.

"Come on let's get you some food." Lily said leading them into the kitchen.

"I'll get the food Lily." Remus spoke passing her and reaching the fridge first.

"Oh come on I'm pregnant not an invalid." Lily complained but stilled smiled appreciatively as Sirius helped her into a chair at the table. "You guys are just like James. He doesn't let me do anything.? She scooted her chair sideways so she had a clear view of the fireplace in the other room.

"That's the way it should be." Remus smiled. "If James found out that Sirius had asked you to get him food Sirius would be a dead man. Hey do you want anything in particular?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Nope I'm just like our pregnant lady. Anything and everything." He called happily. "You know Lilycins," he said turning back to Lily. "I feel so much closer to you now that you're eating habits mirror my own.

"So what happened tonight?" Lily asked ignoring Sirius' comment.

"We got an anonymous tip off about a death-eater meeting." Sirius told her as Remus placed a plate of stew in front of him and all words were forgotten as he began wolfing down the food.

Remus took a seat at the table next to him. He watched the man eat looking faintly disgusted. "In all the years I've known you Sirius, I've never gotten over what a pig you are." He muttered

"What happened?" Lily prompted again.

"Well we got a tip off about when and where the meeting was, but they were warned that we were coming. So we ended up apparating into a room full of death-eaters with wands drawn out and ready.

Lily gasped. "Is everyone alright? No one's… dead?

"There were some minor injuries, some broken bones, and a couple of nasty hexes but nothing too bad. As far as we can tell, it was a meeting for the lesser members. Most of them were pathetic as wizards and witches and we easily overpowered them. Apparently they just found out and didn't have enough time to send for help. We captured fourteen of them. A few of them got away tho-"

All of a sudden the flames in the fireplace burst back to life, Lily half rose out of the chair as her husband stepped from the coals. Their eyes found each other from across the house. James crossed the room in a few quick steps and drew Lily into his arms. She made a strangled sound and threw her arms around his neck.

"It's alright I'm fine." James gave a little chuckle as she buried her head in his chest. All the tears that she'd been holding in coursed down her face. "Sshhh. Honey, I'm right here." He shot a worried look over at Sirius and Remus. "Did you tell her I died or something?" James demanded glaring at Sirius. "Pranks are all fun and good but there's a time and a place mate."

"Hey I didn't do anything. I told her you were fine." Sirius said dropping his fork and shaking his head frantically at his angry friend.

"No don't blame him." Lily said, pulling back and swiping at her tears. "I'm just a crazy pregnant lady."

James smiled and took her face in his hands. "And I wouldn't want it any other way." he told her kissing her forehead.

Now content that her husband was alright Lily smiled drawing back, and sat back down into her chair with a groan.

Remus took in the sight around him. Of Sirius talking to James in between shoveling in mouthfuls of food, of Lily absently rubbing her belly, of James standing behind her with his arm slung across the back of her chair his other stroking her hair as he laughed at something Sirius just said. This was the group of people who had taken him in during his school days, who he shared the best times of his life with. Over the years they had become so much more then friends though, they had become his family.

"Remus is everything ok?" Lily asked reaching across the table for his hand, worried by his silence.

"Yeah." He took her hand and squeezed it a wide smile breaking across his face. "I'm great."

A/N: This idea was just so adorable I just had to write it down. I kept starting and stopping it but I'm proud that I finally got it done. Tell me what you think! Review please!


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